Emergency landing at Leeds Bradford airport
04.08.05
A passenger plane has been forced to make an emergency landing at Leeds Bradford Airport after smoke from one of its engines filled the cabin. Passengers were evacuated from the Flybe aircraft after it made the emergency landing earlier today.
The 18 month old Dash 8 aircraft was en-route from Birmingham to Edinburgh when the cabin filled with smoke and it was forced to land at Leeds Bradford airport. Mike Rutter, a spokesman for low-cost airline Flybe, said the aircraft was diverted as a precaution because of the thickness of the smoke.
He said: 'This was caused by smoke, not fire, from an engine. [The plane] landed within 12 minutes of the captain becoming aware of the problem. As a precaution, everybody was braced for an emergency landing and all passengers were evacuated.'
No-one was injured during the landing, although one elderly lady has since suffered a 'stress-related incident', Rutter added.
One passenger told BBC Radio Leeds: 'We heard a smoke detector go off and then there was a slight haze in the cabin. The smoke got more and more dense and the next thing the cabin crew appeared in smoke hoods and advised us there was a major incident and that the pilot was going to attempt an emergency landing.'
All 56 passengers and 4 crew escaped safely. Flybe said an investigation has been launched into the incident and normal services had resumed.
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